Mark your calendar, HVUT tax time is here

| Thursday, July 03, 2008

Truckers are all too familiar with the federal highway use tax for heavy vehicles, also known as the HUT or HVUT tax. It’s that $550 fee you pay each year when you file an IRS Form 2290. For trucks and other taxable vehicles in use during July, the Form 2290 and payment are due on Aug. 31.

The tax year that begins on July 1, 2008, and ends on June 30, 2009, the balance due shown on the Form 2290 must be paid in full by the due date of the return. In most cases, the deadline for filing the return and paying any tax due is Aug. 31, 2008. Payment can be made by check, money order or electronically through the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System.

Or OOIDA’s Business Services staff can personally deliver it for you.

“I take the checks and go right down to the IRS office in Kansas City and make those payments,” said OOIDA’s Scott O’Dell. “I take my giant briefcase, and I get each one out and make them stamp it. It’s a special service for our members, and they like knowing this gets done right.”

In general, the federal heavy vehicle use tax applies to trucks, truck tractors and buses with a gross taxable weight of 55,000 pounds or more. Ordinarily, vans, pickups and panel trucks are not taxable because they fall below the 55,000-pound threshold.

The tax is based on weight and normally ranges from $100 to $550 per vehicle. A variety of special rules, discussed in the instructions for Form 2290, apply to vehicles with minimal road use, logging or agricultural vehicles, vehicles transferred during the year, and those first used on the road after July.

State governments are required to receive proof of payment of the federal heavy vehicle use tax as a condition of vehicle registration.